Forest Floor

Taken on a forest walk a few days ago, the light wasn't great, the forest wasn't inspiring but there were wild flowers in abundance. No idea what these are called but these and primroses were absolutely everywhere.
The framing is deliberate (albeit regrettable depending on your point of view - me; I kind of like the composition but regret just a little losing the petal tip of the top flower). I seem to be doing more flower shots of late as the landscape hereabouts is just plain hard work and perversely nearly always in black and white.
Nikon D300s/Mamiya 80mm macro and exposure from off camera flash only (SB25).

Re: Forest Floor

Are those Wood Anemones, Paul? (Anemone nemorosa)

If so, they are something that I always struggle to photograph. The petals are a rather pale white which means that when looking natural they seem a little under exposed. And if you try to add any extra brightness you lose all of the fine petal details.

The yellow centres also add to the problems. I haven't thought about B&W before; buit that certainly looks good here.

Re: Forest Floor

That's exactly what they are Geoff. I was told and then promptly forgot their names. I set everything to manual for this one and hand held a flash at an angle to try to pick out the details in the petals, no science involved just quite a few shots and some cursing but I think I got reasonably close in the end. A blue filter helped darken the yellow centres and add a little contrast in that area.
Cheers Paul.

Re: Forest Floor

Thanks Mike. I always take two flashes with me, I suspect I'm just too lazy to take them out of my camera bag but it's surprising how often I use at least one of them. The thing I'm bad at is taking out another tripod to mount them on. They end up either being precariously balanced on rocks and stuff or the camera gets set to self timer while I dash off, get into position and aim the flash

Re: Forest Floor

Thank you very much Donald. I've seen some of your fill flash images and they're not looking at all bad. Adds a whole new dimension doesn't it. Turning a dubious day into a good light day is really interesting and the ability to bring out your subject in camera with just a little extra light totally changed the way I think about some shots now.

Re: Forest Floor

Like you, Paul, I usually work in manual mode for flowers and insects. For the latter I usually keep my flash unit on the camera, for speed. But I vary flash compensation settings until I get it correct.

Re: Forest Floor

Huge respect for shooting insects on manual Geoff I get near them they just fly away. I use inexpensive wireless for the flashes and it did occur to get another receiver/transmitter to control the camera as well as the flash. The idea is that I could set the whole rig up near a 'popular' flower, relax with a gin and tonic and control everything from a few yards away, something I'm considering for the swallows that nest in our eaves every summer in fact.

Re: Forest Floor

From my experience, it doesn't work. For successful bird or insect photography, perfect focus is everything; and that entails lying in the mud!

Even with auto focus using just the centre focusing point, you must ensure that your camera is absolutely focusing on the best part of the scene. Auto focus tends to prefer to focus on a hard edged branch instead of a soft bird.